On the high end of the spectrum is complex project-management software. Professionals and organizations that have very specific needs for which the rigor and details managed by those applications are required usually have and use these tools already, in order to function. And they are most often customized for company-specific projects. This is the software that is used to launch Mars probes, coordinate building construction, and deliver airplanes and pharmaceuticals.

On the lowest end of the digital project-management scale is jotting ideas in the Notes section of a Task item that lists one of your projects, or using generic note-generating and organizing software, creating a note for a project with its associated thoughts.

If you are computer savvy, you will no doubt use several of these modalities for developing and capturing project plans and collateral material. Make sure you create comfort with the applications, so you can focus more on your project thinking than on the software. It will also behoove you to do regular reviews and updating of this content, wherever it is, and keep it current with consistent purging and reorganizing. Remember that the computer is a bit of a black hole, and as memory and storage capacity continue to expand and new cool applications for pieces of this functionality continue to proliferate, it becomes easier to keep everything and then lose a coordinated orientation of your active stuff.

How Do I Apply All This in My World?

Just as your Next Actions lists need to be up-to-date, so, too, does your Projects list. That done, give yourself a block of time, ideally between one and three hours, to handle as much of the vertical thinking about each project as you can.

At the very least, right now or as soon as possible, take those few of your projects that you have the most attention on or interest in right now and do some thinking, collecting, and organizing on them, using whatever tools seem most appropriate.

Focus on each, one at a time, top to bottom. As you do, ask yourself, “What about this do I want to know, capture, or remember?”

You may just want to mind-map some thoughts on a piece of paper, make a file, and toss the paper into it. You may come up with some simple bullet-point headings to attach as a note in your digital/mobile organizer. Or you could create a word processing document and start an outline on it.

The key is to get comfortable with having and using your ideas. And to acquire the habit of focusing your energy constructively, on intended outcomes and open loops, before you have to.